Chinese restaurant in Kenya ‘locks out’ Africans after 5pm

A Chinese restaurant in the Kenyan capital does not admit Africans after 5pm, insisting they pose a security threat to its clients. The staff cites criminal situations and the activities of terrorist group Al Shabaab.

An eatery in Nairobi named the “Chinese Restaurant” has
taken the decision after an armed robbery last year and recent
warnings from the Chinese embassy over Al Shabaab’s increased
threat, local media report.

“We don’t admit Africans that we don’t know because you never
know who is Al-Shabaab and who isn’t,” Esther Zhao, a PR
manager with the restaurant, told the Nairobi News. “It is
not like it is written on somebody’s face that they are a thug
armed with a gun.”

Zhao says the guests of the restaurant feel safer and more
comfortable if African customers are kept away. Only taxi drivers
and Africans accompanied by European, Chinese or Indian guests
can be admitted.

“It is strictly a no-African policy and we have even had to
turn away some prominent Kenyans who were obviously not a
security threat,” a restaurant worker told the journalists
on conditions of anonymity.

According to the Nairobi News, those locked out included the
former Cabinet Secretary for the Interior Joseph ole Lenku, and
former education secretary and presidential candidate Joseph ole
Kiyiapi.

However, some Africans
considered“loyal”can still come in. You have to spend
20,000 Kenyan shilling (about $217) in a certain time period to
qualify. The only people allowed in any time are Nairobi Senator
Mike Sonko and former Cabinet Minister Raphael Tuju, who are
reportedly the owner’s friends.

The move caused an outrage in the media and among local
politicians.

“That amounts to racial and ethnic profiling, which is
unconstitutional,” said the country’s ombudsman, Otiende
Amollo. “It has in it the inherent assumption that Africans
are inevitably pre-disposed to be robbers… Whatever measures they
choose to take to maintain security must be measures that treat
people equally irrespective of race, gender or color.”